


On My Watch

by Jamcub



Category: LazyTown, The Spy Next Door (2010)
Genre: Chapter three has mentions of past physical abuse, Crossover, Nothing happens in chapter one just yet, Other, Sibling AU, Will feature violence in later chapters, thus the tag
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-24
Updated: 2017-03-22
Packaged: 2018-09-26 17:11:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 15,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9912683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jamcub/pseuds/Jamcub
Summary: Sportacus is visited by someone he thought he'd be able to forget, and Lazytown gets caught up in trouble.Sportapol Sibling AU, title subject to change.





	1. You’ve Got Mail

**Author's Note:**

> In which Sportacus receives a letter and misplaces it, and someone's in trouble.

Sportacus got mail.

Now, this would have been fine, usually - he often got mail from any of the kids, inviting him to play with them, or telling him when something was wrong. But this letter was different. For one, it did not arrive in a mail tube at all, and Sportacus wouldn’t be able to tell where he’d gotten it later on. As far as he was concerned, it just… appeared. It was also delivered in an envelope, with no return address and only his name on the front, and contained but a single sheet of paper, written on in a terribly neat handwriting that looked like art more than words.

_Dear brother,_

_Prepare for my arrival shortly._

There was no name on the letter, or any kind of hint as to the sender, but Sportacus still paled, folding the piece of paper back up and stuffing it into the envelope. He didn’t need an address to pinpoint the sender of the letter at all. He set the envelope down on the cockpit, staring at the white wall opposite his door.

This was bad, he immediately thought, glancing from the envelope back to the wall slowly. Before his thoughts could move on any further, though, his crystal beeped, tearing him out of his thoughts. He exclaimed, to no one in particular, “Someone’s in trouble!” before calling out for the door to be opened. Once outside, his spyglass showed him Lazytown, perfectly calm except for -

The kitten, stuck in its usual tree. Of course.

At least it wasn’t one of the children getting into trouble this time, or Robbie. Everything seemed to be shaping up to be a nice day in Lazytown - except for that letter, of course. But he had more pressing matters to attend to now.

Sportacus sighed, jumping off the end point of the door bridge, his backpack turning to a glider to catch his fall just in time. He arrived in time to save the kitten, setting it down with a sigh.

“Be more careful next time.” He reminded it, knowing he’d aave to pluck it out of the same tree the next day regardless. Taking a moment to breathe, he leaned against the tree, looking at the clouds. The letter was still obviously on his mind, and he only halfheartedly waved at Ziggy when he ran past him, some kind of candy in hand.

He’d have to explain this to the kids, wouldn’t he. His stomach turned into knots, and he pushed himself off from the tree to call for his ladder.

By the time he’d made it back up to his ship, there was no sign of the letter. Asking the ship’s AI left him clueless, and rifling through his wardrobe only left a heap of clothes on the floor he would have to clean up later. Exasperated, he decided it must have gotten blown out of the door when he had left too hastily earlier.

Sportacus sighed, his head in his hands. He hadn’t felt like this in a long while - so powerless to help himself. He was supposed to be a hero, wasn’t he?

A fine hero he made, he thought bitterly. Couldn’t even keep track of a letter.

\--

Further down, Stephanie was dribbling a ball along the street when she spotted an envelope on the ground. She bent down to pick it up, and before she knew it, she’d slid the letter contained inside out of it. It was addressed to Sportacus, and opened, so she figured he must have lost it. She skimmed the letter, eyes going wide.

“ _Sportacus has a brother…?_ ”

\--

He did not know when his brother would arrive, Sportacus realised with a sudden start. The letter hadn’t just lacked a sender, or a name to go with it, but also any date his brother planned to see him. Or how he planned to arrive, for that matter. In fact, he had nothing but an unmarked letter, and for a moment, that seemed flat out ridiculous to him. What if it wasn’t even from his brother? He could have imagined it.

He tugged off his hat, running a hand through his short, curly hair. This was ridiculous. He was worrying over nothing at all - until he saw his brother’s face, he wouldn’t bother with this anymore. Laughing anxiously, he tossed the hat aside, getting up.

Ridiculous. And yet-

Sportacus glanced out of the window in the front of of his airship, waiting for any sign of a plane.

Of anything. At all.

He kept an eye both on the sky and his crystal, expecting it to go off any second now, ether for him or someone in town. Surprisingly, it stayed quiet and dark, only serving to make the hero more nervous. It would know when he arrived, wouldn’t it? If he had kept his piece of the crystal as well, that was.

Briefly. He got distracted thinking about a piece of crystal, embedded in an expensive watch as the centerpiece. He knew it still beeped, if faintly, and wondered if sometimes, its owner thought about it like he was thinking about it now. But then he remembered the letter he did not have, and he face set into a frown.

Not knowing what to expect, and worse, when, left Sportacus anxious and upset all day, to the point he had to refuse playing with the kids in order not to worry them. He feigned having something to do, something important that’d require him to stay up in his ship all day, and left the kids with a decidedly befuddled Robbie in the middle of one of his schemes. The villain didn’t even tease him, instead producing a piece of candy to console an obviously upset Ziggy, who just couldn’t understand why his hero couldn’t stay and play.

Sportacus felt a pang of guilt at the mere thought.

“Sportacus, you have been staring out of the window for the past hour.” The gentle voice of his ship’s AI reminded him, and he actually looked up.

What? Oh, yes, I am expecting a visitor. I don’t want to miss them.” He waved it off. The ship, if that was even possible, uttered a sigh.

“Sportacus, there is no use working yourself up over it right now. He will arrive in time. When he is here, you should be prepared instead.”

“I know!” Sportacus drew in a sharp breath, flipping across the airship to get to the door. “Door!” He called, and the ship opened for him. He pulled out his spyglass, which only showed him an empty sky. Nothing. Nada. He had repeated this for the last hour or so, jumping up every five minutes to check the sky and the town below, always with that same result of nothing at all.

Sportacus returned to his ship, going back to staring out of the window nervously instead. The AI beeped indignantly at him now and then.

\---

It was Stephanie who first saw the visitor enter town, from the train station she’d once come from herself. She called over Pixel and Trixie, with Stingy and Ziggy in tow, who chewed on a lollipop contently.

“Everybody, I think I know who this is!” Stephanie excitedly called out to Trixie, who immediately perked up.

“Who? Who’s that? Do you know him, Pinkie?” She asked, with the stranger steadily approaching as she talked. He was reasonably tall, well-groomed and looked every bit as though he wouldn’t want a gaggle of annoying little kids around him. Regardless, he found himself in the middle of the commotion, with Ziggy tugging on the bottom of his suit, while Trixie tried to get a good look at the stranger. She wondered how mad he’d get if she put gum in his perfectly combed blond hair.

Pixel was trying to decide what to make of the man, with Stingy already trying to gauge how to best claim ownership of whatever was in the suitcase the stranger dragged behind him.

“What’s your name?” Ziggy asked the man, his small, sticky hands still clinging to the fabric of the suit. The stranger sneered, replying in a thick Russian accent.

“Poldark. Anton Poldark, and you need to get your hands off before I-”

“Ohh! I’m Trixie!” The pigtailed girl offered her hand, cutting him off, which Poldark did not take. Stingy meanwhile decided that this ‘Poldark’ person had to be famous, and thus, rich. Which meant-

“Don’t listen to her!” He cried, trying to show his piggy to Poldark, excited to meet someone apparently famous. The blonde shot him a glare, but before he could say anything nasty, something flung itself over the nearest wall.

“Sportacus!” Stephanie went to wrap her arms around him, but he shook his head. “Please, leave him alone.” He asked the others sternly, and they quickly scattered, with Trixie gently tugging Ziggy’s sticky paws off the suit. Everyone seemed to know this was not something they should stick around for.

“Anton.”

Poldark sneered. “Brother.” He said, with no emotion behind the word at all. “Fancy meeting you here, isn’t it.”

Sportacus frowned. “Leave them alone. I don’t want-”

“They came to bother me first. I didn’t ask them to.” Poldark adjusted his sleeve cuffs. “They are yours, or…?”

“In a way.” Sportacus watched the kids leave, Stephanie dragging along Pixel, with Stingy and Trixie in the back, who was trying to keep the boy from heading right back to Poldark.

“But he has money-” He could be heard whining, but Trixie wouldn’t let up, physically dragging him off when he tried to dig his heels into the ground.

“Bad manners.” Poldark said, watching the small group leave with a sneer. “Anyway, as I said, fancy meeting you here, Magnús.”

“I told you not to call me that.” Sportacus shifted his stance, uncharacteristically silent and still. Anton sighed, smoothing out his suit nonchalantly, obviously trying to deflect. “I am surprised you didn’t ask me what I came here for.”

“Fine.” Sportacus said curtly, very obviously trying to engage Anton as little as possible. He had barely moved, his entire body tense, which left Anton looking him over with an amused smirk before he replied.

“I got into some… trouble, if you want to call it that. I managed to escape…”

“You have a knack for that, if nothing else, don’t you.” Sportacus replied flatly. Anton pretended not to hear him at all.

“I had to leave. And of course, I thought of you. This town is very, how do you say… _quaint _.” He drawled, looking only moderately interested in the conversation. “I am the most sought-after person in America right now. I needed a place no one would care to look for me. In fact, I am decently sure no one even knows this place exists in the first place.”__

__Sportacus’s mouth was set in a thin line, mirroring his mustache. He found himself at an impasse, unable to really defend himself. If he stepped out of line, Anton might hurt the people that meant the most to him, but if he didn’t do anything, he still might do the same - he’d always been more trigger-happy than any elf had a right to be._ _

__“I’m not going to hide you from anyone. You were always the one who talked so much about facing things head on - where did all this go?” Sportacus asked, shifting nervously. Anton pulled a face._ _

__“Is that so.” He smirked, and Sportacus frowned in response, mustache drooping ever so slightly. “You can't let them know you're a spy, at the very least. They weren't supposed to know you exist-”_ _

__He was cut off abruptly by the other hooking his fingers beneath the brooch containing the sports elf's crystal. The blonde gave a chuckle, slowly leaning close enough for his breath to graze Sportacus’ face as he spoke._ _

__“Then make sure they don't blow this for either of us. Or else…” He imitated the crystal's noises sarcastically. “Beep beep beep. _Someone's in trouble_.”_ _


	2. Dress Rehearsal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Sportacus acquires a suit, and a meeting is held.
> 
> EDIT: Art has been done of a part of this chapter! Find it [here](http://life-is-full-of-games.tumblr.com/post/157964458977/)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have actually only a faint idea of how to children, I am sorry. Also, I wish someone would bribe me one of these days.

Robbie Rotten had spent the day underground, in surprising quiet. He’d expected some kind of noise to come from upstairs, but there was, for lack of a better word, absolutely nothing. Not even one of the kids was out there playing, and the blue flipping elf was nowhere to be seen.

Robbie Rotten was not about to look the proverbial gift horse in the mouth, however, content to eat hi fifth slice of cake that day while settling in for a nap. The moment he had closed his eyes, nuzzled into the big orange chair, however, something knocked on the door. The clanging jerked him out of his dozing state, leaving him a tense mess on the chair and the cake a sticky one on his lap.

“WHAT IS IT!” He shouted up, growling under his breath. With how loud the banging was getting, he expected the blue loon to be the culprit, and his suspicions were confirmed when the elf’s voice drifted down to him.

“Robbie! I need your help!”

“Well, I need a nap, so it looks like no one is getting what they want today. Get lost.” Robbie pulled the pillows out from behind his back, trying to block out the noise, with little success, unfortunately. “Shoo!”

“I’m serious. Robbie, I’m coming in.”

Before Robbie could protest, the noise of someone entering the pipe told him Sportacus was well on his way. He jumped up, snarling, and attempted to remove the cake from his lap, with little success. He was still cursing when a familiar face poked out of the bottom of the pipe.

“Sportakook.” Robbie sneered, putting his best effort into looking displeased. “What do you want.”

Sportacus slipped out of the pipe, landing next to Robbie. The elf, Robbie noted, was looking unusually stern today, and if he didn’t know any better, he’d say his mustache was drooping.

“What do you need from me.” Robbie started again. “And what makes you think II will help you? You ruined my nap, and my pants. I owe you nothing.”

Sportacus twirled his mustache in thought. “It’s - it’s important.”

“So is me getting enough sleep!”

“It might get someone hurt.” Sportacus interjected. “I really - this is not the time to argue. Please.”

Robbie scoffed; it seemed as though he was not going to get the elf to move out of his lair unless he at least listened to what he had to say. “Well, then, tell me what you need so urgently that you barge in here when I’m trying to sleep. Go on.” He waved a hand at the elf.

Sportacus rocked on his heels, something Robbie found bothersome, but decided not to comment on. “I - I need …” He started, looking as though he would rather be anywhere but there.

“I need a suit.” He eventually confessed, making Robbie laugh loudly and suddenly.

“Didn’t think you’d need a suit, of all things.” He commented idly, picking a bit of frosting off his pants. “You’re always … flipping about and jumping, a suit isn’t going to hold out very long.” He popped his finger into his mouth, sucking on it, lost in thought.

“It’s not for me.” Sportacus admitted, quietly. Robbie had to admit he was getting a little nervous just from how silent Sportacus was being today. He was so very unlike his usual self, it made Robbie anxious.

“Well, then the someone who needs it can come see me, can’t they.” He muttered, wiping his sticky hands off on the upper part of his vest. He’d need to change anyway, so what was the point? “Why did they send you?”

“It’s difficult.” Sportacus admitted.

“If you don’t stop making me force you to explain, you can get a suit from elsewhere. I don’t care what bothers you, I’m not your personal tailor.” Robbie sneered. He was getting tired of this charade very quickly.

Sportacus bit his lip, avoiding looking directly at Robbie at all.. “It’s for my brother.”

Robbie paused briefly. There were more of him? More of Sportacus? More flippity flopping annoying elves? No thank you. Robbie cocked a brow at Sportacus.

“Brother? You have a brother? Why did you never-”

“Does it matter?” Sportacus said, exasperated. Robbie was startled; he had never seen the elf this forward, and this still for this long, for that matter, and it unnerved him. “I guess not.” He said, dryly. “I suppose you and him aren’t very close?”

Sportacus stepped up to the villain. “Can you please do what I asked of you? Just this once.”

Robbie gave in, maybe a little too easily. He sighed, and wiped the frosting off his lap, asking Sportacus to wait while he changed. The elf agreed to wait in the main room while Robbie found something to wear that wasn’t covered in sticky icing, leaving Robbie alone with his thoughts.

Another sports elf. Not necessarily Sportacus, he reminded himself while undoing his belt slowly. Maybe this one wasn’t even that bad. Maybe he wouldn’t be a flipping, flopping mess that only ate apples and nothing else. Maybe they’d have something in common, too. A lot of wishful thinking, perhaps, but a man could dream, even when he wasn’t napping.

Robbie returned ten minutes later, free of the remains of cake, holding a measuring tape in one hand. “I suppose he’s …” He moved his free hand in a vague gesture. “Like you?”

Sportacus gave him a quizzical look, to which he replied, exasperated: “How tall is he! What build? I need to know these things to make him a suit, you stu- anyway.”

Robbie had to admit that being asked to help Sportacus, of all people, and with something he naturally excelled at, wasn’t even that bad. Not that he wouldn’t still have preferred napping, but at least it wasn’t exercise and did not involve sportscandy, but it was a start.

“Tell me about your brother.” Robbie asked, looping the tape around a completely confused Sportacus. “He must be something special if you haven’t brought him up yet, hm.” His fingers traced the circumference of the elf’s waist. “Since you usually never shut up a-”

“Robbie, please. Can this wait.”

Their conversation continue to go on in this fashion, with Robbie asking invasive questions and Sportacus shutting them down before he could finish. Eventually, Robbie fell silent, only speaking when he asked Sportacus to remove his vest. His eyes followed Sportacus’ hands as he unclipped the brooch and set it and the vest aside, but he thought better than to steal it. 

“... let me know when you are ready to talk.” Robbie said, a little bitterly. Of course the one time he actually cared about the elf’s stupid antics, he had to act like this. Great. Of course that’d happen.

Well, Robbie had ways of finding things out on his own terms, anyway, he didn’t need Sportacus. If he didn’t want to talk, well…

\---

“What do you say, Agent Mine?”

“Why do you get to be the leader? This is my treehouse.” Stingy had repeated the same argument at least three times now, to the point Stephanie was considering giving up involving him at all. She turned to Ziggy instead, who had managed to stuff the circumference of his lollipop into his mouth, rendering him pretty much mute for the time being.

“What do you think, Agent Sweets?”

Ziggy spoke around the candy in his mouth, which prompted Trixie to snigger.

“Wesh mashbeh wehu jussas?” Ziggy offered, chewing on the sweets. Stephanie shook her head, disappointed. “Guys, come on! We have to figure something out!”

Trixie adjusted the sunglasses she’d swiped from the Mayor’s desk earlier. They were a little big for her, and kept sliding down her face as she spoke. “Well, I saw him walk down the street earlier! Very suspicious.”

“Trixie, lots of people walk down streets.” Pixel reminded her, poking the small computer attached to his wrist. “My analysis says that the stranger is about as tall as Sportacus. In fact, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say they’re the same. That’s suspicious, if you ask me.”

“They’re brothers.” Stingy said, getting restless since his protests weren’t taken seriously. “Lots of brothers look pretty similar to their siblings, you know.” He stroked the plastic piggy bank setting in his lap. “Aren’t I right, Piggy?” He asked it.

“Well, if we don’t figure out what he wants soon, I…” Trixie shrugged. “Well, I don’t know what’s going to happen, but it can’t be good. I don’t trust that guy as far as Sportacus can throw a football!”

Ziggy pulled the sucker out of his mouth. “Well, I have an idea! We could ask him! He’ll know, right?” He chewed on the edge of the sweets thoughtfully. “Unless… he doesn’t want to talk to us…”

“Hmm…” Stephanie put her head in her hand, sighing. “I don’t think he’d tell us anything… and if we involve Uncle Milford and Bessie, that’s just going to make things harder…”

“But who else is there?” Stingy cried, nervously handling his piggy. “If the Mayor and Miss Busybody are right out…” He held out a hand, counting on his fingers. “And Sportacus won’t tell us anything either… that leaves-”

“Robbie Rotten!” The kids all spoke in unison, looking at each other.

“He’s going to know, isn’t he? He’s got that cool periscope!” Trixie called. “And we can always bribe him with candy! Ziggy, you’ve got candy don’t you?”

“At home.” The blond boy admitted. “I’ve got a box full of it! Sportacus says that’s okay as long as I don’t eat it all… wait.” He gave Stephanie a confused look. “... are we going to give the candy to Robbie?”

“Well…” The pink-haired girl pulled up a small notepad and a pen, scribbling things down quickly. “We do have to ask him, and if he says no, then we give him the candy. Only then!”

Stingy could be heard from his corner of the treehouse, mumbling something about that candy being his anyway, and why did they have to give it to Robbie? Predictably, no one listened, paying attention to Stephanie instead.

“So, we need to go see Robbie at the lair. We all know how to get there?”

Everyone nodded. Stephanie continued. “So, we need to ask him what he knows, and if he’d help us. And … Ziggy, you need to bring your candy. Stingy, do you think we could borrow your car to carry it all?”

“...I guess so.” Stingy sounded stuffed up, refusing to participate still.

The group agreed to meet at Robbie’s lair, with Stingy and Trixie going to take the candy from Ziggy’s house and using Stingy’s car to transport it. Meanwhile, Stephanie and Pixel headed to Pixel’s house to check the camera for any suspicious activity.

“Well, there’s not much.” Pixel admitted. “I have footage of earlier, when we all met him, and then some after, but …” He pressed a button, playing back the video of them all crowding around Anton. “It cuts off after we left. Someone must have messed with it.”

Stephanie wrote that down on her pad as well, frowning at the stic on the screen. “That is pretty suspicious. I wonder if Robbie was any more lucky.”

“Only one way to find out!” Pixel said, getting up and adjusting his headset. “Ziggy and the others should be ready by now, so I say we all meet at the lair. Let’s see if Robbie is home!”

\--

“You knock.”

“ _You_ knock!”

Trixie and Stingy had been arguing about who were to knock on the lair’s pipe entrance for ten minutes now. Stingy said it wasn’t his responsibility, causing Trixie to mock him.

“Oh, is it.” She said, refusing to knock herself. “I thought everything was yours.”

Stephanie sighed. “I’m going to knock.” She said, climbing up the side of the pipe to rap on the lid. “Robbie?” She called, waiting for a response. “We need your help!”

A moment of silence followed, then the sounds of something climbing up the pipe. The lid swung open, revealing Robbie wearing a morning gown and a matching hat, all pinstriped like his usual attire.

“It’s _you_.” He stated, yawning heartily . “I was getting ready to nap… what do you want?” Robbie stared at them all, bleary-eyed and half asleep enough to not immediately slam the door on them. “Don’t you have a ball to kick, or something…”

“Robbie, we need your help.” Stephanie repeated, clinging to the stairs. “We think something is wrong with Sportacus’ brother.”

Robbie rubbed his face with a hand, groaning. “Is there.” He said, slowly. “I think he’s just… uptight and a little scary, nothing to worry about. He wouldn’t be here otherwise.”

Stephanie frowned. Time t use their secret weapon, then.

“Robbie, we have candy.”

The villain’s face lit up almost immediately. “...how much?” He breathed, leaning out of the pipe to see behind Stephanie. “Can I have it all?” His hat was slipping, and he quickly adjusted it. “Are you bribing me.”

Ziggy slowly pulled a sucker from the pile in Stingy’s car, holding it out to Robbie. “Here!”

He took it, giving it a small lick, contemplating. Free candy was always good, and he could just.. Throw them all out later, he supposed. Chewing on the candy, he ducked into the pipe. “Close the door behind you, don’t be savages.” He muttered.

“Let’s go!” Stephanie waved for the others to follow, slipping into the pipe herself. Trixie and Stingy picked the box of candy out of the car, and Pixel helped them fit it into the pipe before they climbing in themselves. He shut the pipe exit after himself, locking it, and jumped in.


	3. Past Aspirations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Robbie meets an old friend, and a new foe.
> 
> EDIT: Art has been drawn [here](http://life-is-full-of-games.tumblr.com/post/158193431097/life-is-full-of-games-you-know-i-still-love)!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Be aware this chapter features some mention of physical abuse, so please, be careful reading it. Tags have been updated.

“I am disappointed in you.”

The sentence hung in the air for a while before Sportacus replied at all, and when he did, he sounded uncharacteristically stiff still.

“I guess so am I, then.” His fingers played with the lock on his arm braces, snapping them open and shut to give himself something to do other than stare. For the past hour and a half, Anton had refused to wear a shirt, sitting on Sportacus’ fold-out bed in only in the bottoms of his grey suit. Not that Sportacus minded, technically - it was almost like looking into a mirror, if his mirror was impeccably groomed and wearing a sneer, of course. What bothered him was the way he kept talking about whoever had packed his suitcase for him.

Sportacus had gone through his things earlier, piling up a small heap of clothes on the bed. Most of them were shirts, white and stiff and making Sportacus itch just looking at them, but there was also a tracksuit, and something Anton had stuffed back into the trunk when Sportacus had pulled it out, telling him to not touch it again.

The whole situation had escalated with Anton yelling at Sportacus to find him something proper to wear, or else. While it made Anton sound like a petulant child more than anything, he was still a petulant child with a gun, so Sportacus had agreed to have something made, and asked Robbie for help - of course, that’d take a while.

So now Anton was sitting on his bed, half naked and with his thumb brushing over the back of his gun. A couple times, he had aimed at the opposite side of the ship, causing Sportacus to tense, but then lowered the gun again, to the point it made Sportacus think Anton was doing this just to see him distraught.

“How long did he say it’d take?” Anton finally drawled, lifting the gun again and peering along its length.

“A day.” Sportacus got up from his perch on the back of the cockpit, starting to pace nervously. “Making things takes time, A-”

“I know, and I don’t care.” He interrupted, smoothing over his hair with the flat of his hand idly. “I shouldn’t have to wait because of someone else's’ incompetence.”

Sportacus felt a knot form in his stomach slowly. He knew Robbie wasn’t the best - frequently, he found himself questioning the man’s choices and wished he’d actually heed his advice, but never would he go as far as calling Robbie incompetent. He did his best, and that was all that mattered. But of course, he knew his argument would meet deaf ears only.

Speaking of ears-

“Anton.”

“Brother.” Poldark stopped inspecting the length of his gun long enough to shoot Sportacus a glance. “What is it.”

“Your ears.” Sportacus touched his own, through the fabric of his hat, almost solemnly “They’re… round. Not pointy.” Like a humans, he almost added, but bit back the comment before it slipped out. He had a feeling Anton would not appreciate it.

“Astute observation.” Anton sneered. “I had them fixed. Did you think I wanted to be ridiculed for my appearance for the rest of my life? I have _plans_. Aspirations. I want to get somewhere, one day. I can’t look like a clown.”

Sportacus’ face fell. His own ears shifted under his hat, and he could feel his cheeks heat up with an embarrassed blush. He’d always known that Anton hated being an elf, that he’d do everything to be less like his family, but… to hear it from him like this hurt far more than he’d ever expected it. Even after all these years…

“I guess.” His fingers popped open the latches on his brace again. “I thought that maybe you’d try being nice when you came here, but I guess I was wrong. But that’s okay too.”

Anton scowled. He didn’t exactly care for his brother at the best of times, much less when he was trying to spout some kind of inspirational bullshit, as Anton himself would have aptly summarized it. As long as he spent time in his brothers’ airship, though, he’d at least keep himself from being openly nasty.

Maybe.

“You know I still love you.” Sportacus said, very quietly, not looking at Anton at all, and things suddenly moved very, very quickly.

The gun clicked uselessly, once, twice, three times, and Anton tossed it across the room, furious. It slid on the floor, hitting the opposite wall with a dull thud. Anton had risen from the bed, breathing heavily, his grey eyes settling on Sportacus, full of disdain.

“I don’t.”

\---

Robbie pulled the last thread on the suit taut, snapping the thread with his teeth. It hadn’t actually taken that long to make the suit itself, mostly thanks to Robbie’s expertise, and a small dose of magic on top of it. He smoothed the lapels of the suit out, holding it up.

Not too bad, he conceded, at least for something he had been forced to make in just a day and a half. The fabric was smooth, and cool to the touch, silky and soft. If Robbie wasn’t quite a bit taller than Sportacus’ brother, and the suit wasn’t a dull grey, he might have considered putting it on himself. As it were, he folded the suit up, setting it onto the table next to his chair.

Robbie frowned. Now that this was done, he figured he might as well enjoy a slice of cake, and give what had happened earlier some more thought.

Stephanie and the other brats had come to see him earlier, talking about some kind of conspiracy. At least that was what it sounded like to Robbie, still with his mind on the suit. The pink girl had told him about there being something wrong with Sportacus’ brother, and something about files going missing. Robbie had stopped listening at some point, shooing them all out of the lair before they could spew any more madness.

Kids, he thought, getting up slowly to see if he had any more cake in the kitchen. They always thought something was going on, weren’t they? Adults were always up to something, according to kids anyway. Robbie shouldn’t bother with what they thought, honestly.

Having spent most of the day cooped up inside, however, made him want to actually get out and get some fresh air. He sighed; that cake would have to wait until after his walk then. Robbie headed back over and stepped up to the set of disguise tubes. It’d be nice to finally stretch his legs a little, to get out of the lair, and maybe find a way to bother that blue elf and his kids on the way there.

He picked out his usual outfit, before heading over to the tube and leaving his lair. Once outside, he immediately wished he’d put on a jacket at least, since it was kind of chilly, but decided against it. He’d be fine.

“Wonder what that elf is up to.” He muttered, climbing out the pipe and looking around. It had to be past five or six, but the sun was still up, since it was summer, after all. He figured he’d find the kids playing on the playground, or maybe the sports field, if Sportacus had joined them. “Probably nothing good!”

A leisurely stroll led him to the sports field, where he found neither the kids nor Sportacus. Robbie was almost disappointed, until he remembered Sportacus would probably force him to eat an apple or something if he met him.

Robbie sneered.

“Serves him right.” He said to himself, slowly turning to leave. “He’s always so pushy, and loud, and annoying and -”

He had barely walked three steps when he ran into something - or rather, someone. His hands roamed over the stiff fabric of a suit, coming to a halt just below what he assumed was a chest. Robbie froze.

“Good evening.” came the greeting in a heavily accented voice, so very different than the one he was used to, yet awfully familiar. Robbie physically recoiled, jumping back in a way that would be considered comical if not for the look of pure horror on his face.

“ _You!_ ” His voice was shaking as he spoke, his entire posture dropping into a protective slouch, as though he expected the other to attack him. “What are you- why are you- I thought I-”

“Of all the people I could have met here, it had to be you.” Anton Poldark drawled coldly, not even looking at Robbie. “I’m surprised you’re even still here.”

“I live here.” was all that Robbie could think to say, still watching at Anton with fear in his eyes. He had hoped he’d never have to see him again, especially after Sportacus came to town, but there he was - number nine was currently watching a very distraught Robbie trying desperately to grasp for words, as though he were little more than a mildly interesting thing on TV. He didn’t even seem that surprised to find Robbie still lived in Lazytown.

“Why did you come back?” Robbie scoffed. “We have a hero, we don’t need two. I didn’t know you were his brother-”

“I didn’t know you still liked to run your mouth. Turns out that things do not really change, do they.” Anton didn’t even lift his hand, the threat in his voice more than enough to quiet Robbie down. “I thought I’d beat that out of you the last time, but it would appear I was wrong.

What a pity.”

Robbie desperately tried to find something, anything at all, to say, but all he could do was move his mouth uselessly, opening and shutting it like a fish out of water. Of all the people he could think of, he didn’t expect hero number nine to return to Lazytown, and then to turn out to be Sportacus’ brother of all things.

Anton seemed to get bored of the conversation quickly, smoothing out his suit with a crease on his forehead before making motion to move on. Robbie spun on his heel.

“I’m not scared of you anymore.” The words spilled from Robbie before he could help himself, and Anton froze on the spot. He turned around, glancing at Robbie.

“I don’t think so.” He said coldly, folding his arms over his chest. “I would watch my mouth if I were you. Think about what’s good for you.”

There was a tense silence hovering between them for a minute or so before Anton added:

“I hope the suit is done soon. You know how I feel about disappointments, don’t you.”

Robbie did not stick around to hear any more. He turned his back on Anton, heading back to his lair as fast as possible, almost tripping over himself in the process.

Number Nine was back.

Robbie could hardly believe it. Did Sportacus know about what had happened before he arrived? Did he have any idea? Thoughts swirled in his head so fast it was hard to focus on only one of them at once, and ot almost made him sick. He grasped the ladder on the side of the pipe leading to his lair to try and ground himself.

Number Nine was back and Sportacus wasn’t doing anything to stop him.Robbie could feel himself tensing, the muscles in his back seizing up at the idea of the last hero being back in town with no one to stop him. Robbie had been powerless then, and he’d been powerless now, and even Sportacus-

Robbie pushed himself up, yanking open the lid to the pipe. He’d need to get a hold of that annoying blue elf before things got out of hand. He needed to know. Robbie climbed up the ladder, knees knocking against each other as he did.

Sportacus had to help.

Robbie arrived in his lair, propped up upside down in the chair, staring at the disguise machine. It was empty, much like his head, he found. He swung his legs over his head, rolling off the chair onto the floor in a heap of too-long limbs.

The children, he realised. “They were right.” Robbie muttered as he scrolled through the disguises. “They were right and I was - I was a stupid, stubborn mule-” He dismissed the dance instructor disguise, yanking the lever again. “I’m a senile old stubborn idiot!”

The machine coughed and spluttered, stopping at a disguise Robbie hadn’t even acknowledged in what seemed like months. He let go of the lever, stepping up to the tube.

“Hm.” His fingers drummed against the glass softly. The catsuit was not one of his favourite disguises - too tight and too black to really be his style - but he’d have to make do with that if he wanted to have a chance at setting things right. Robbie squinted at the black, smooth fabric.

“Now… which one of the brats would believe me if I showed up at their house in the middle of the night…?” He wondered out loud, still drumming a rhythm against the glass, just to keep his hands busy. His immediate thought was that pink girl - she seemed to make herself out to be the leader, most of the time, and she usually listened well before making any rash decisions. Then again, she also lived with her uncle, and the last thing Robbie needed was to have Mildford Meanswell find him in the bedroom of his niece at night, wearing nothing but a catsuit.

Probably not a good idea at all, so the pink one was off the list.

Robbie counted the children off on his fingers.

“Cookie boy wouldn’t get it, he’s too young. Stinky doesn’t like me. The loud girl would probably wake the whole town up if I talked to her at all. Which leaves-” He stared at his outstretched pointer finger as though it would give him the answer he needed.

“That kid with the strange hair and the …” Robbie indicated wearing something on his head. To be fair, Pringles or whatever his name was again did stay up pretty late on a good day, so Robbie had a good chance at actually meeting him awake and alert.

Not to mention the fact he actually knew how to get into his house already, Robbie thought. His hands twitched, and he quickly placed it on the disguise machines’ lever.

“ _It’s disguise time!_ ” He declared, a lot less enthusiastically than usually.


	4. Shadows in the dark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Robbie pays a visit to a friend, and watches a cat get rescued.

The suit was too tight.

That was the first thing that crossed Robbie’s mind when he stared at himself in the mirror he’d pulled from the ceiling. He’d packed on the pounds, without doubt from how many sweets he ate almost daily, and the leather was getting rather tight around his stomach.

He sucked it in, trying to stand up straighter, one hand mussing up his hair as he fiddled with it, nervously. He was not really fat, not by a long shot, but he’d definitely been slimmer before. The suit and the messy hair definitely did remind him of someone, though.

Strange. He breathed out, annoyed to see a bit of pudge on his tummy that had not been there the last time he’d worn this. He could see love handles on his hips, and tried to smooth them over, of course with very little success.

Robbie snorted disdainfully at himself, trying to flatten his hair. Ah well, that’d have to wait as well then, he decided, turning on his heel.

Time to pay that annoying kid a visit, then. Robbie scowled all the while he made his way to the surface, and it only got worse when he realised how cold it had gotten, now that it was dark. He stuck out his tongue, sneaking down to the front of the billboard, and stepping out. Hopefully the kid knew to keep his windows closed at night.

It wasn’t hard sneaking around - it was one of the things he did best, even without the suit, after all. What was considerably harder was trying to keep track of the airship hovering overhead. He hoped that Number Nine - Anton - had returned to the ship, and that he’d stay in bed like his goody two-shoes brother. If he found him out here-

Robbie climbed over a wall, wheezing at the exertion. He would have gone the long way around, but the gate made noise, and the less attention he drew, he better. For a moment, he sat on the wall, watching the sky and the moon, surprisingly big and round on the sky. Robbie must have forgotten it was full moon tonight.

No matter. Robbie hopped off the wall and headed towards the house he was looking for. It was taller than most, and outfitted with more cameras than he was comfortable with. This was the hard part - actually getting up would require him to do actual exercise.

“Disgusting.” He commented, looking around. Didn’t these idiots usually keep a ladder nearby…? He seemed to remember one near the shed they kept all their tools in. As it were, he wouldn’t be getting up there without one, so he’d have to check either way.

Luckily, the ladder was found quickly, and before long, he was on the topmost rung, peering into the room. Pixel wasn’t asleep, as he had hoped, but instead sitting on his desk, doing something or other on the computer.

Perfect. Except for-

Robbie knit his brows. He’d have to get the kid’s attention now. He rapped his knuckles against the glass as quietly as he could, hoping he’d still be heard. Sitting on the top spot on this ladder was getting kind of uncomfortable, if anything.

One knock. Nothing.

Two knocks. Still nothing. Robbie was getting antsy when he knocked a third time, wondering if he shouldn’t have just stayed home and dealt with this later sometime. To his great relief, however, Pixel got up and headed to the window.

“Robbie Rotten?” He said, resting one hand on the window sill. “What are you-”

Robbie gestured for him to open the window so he could climb in, and better yet, explain his position and why was here. With a nod, Pixel quickly undid the latches on the window to open it wide.

“What are you doing here?” He asked again, luckily with the presence of mind to keep his voice down. “It’s way past eight! Not even Sportacus is still up.”

“You’re awake.” Robbie quipped as he climbed on the sill, and then into the room. “Which is good, because I need your help. Quickly. As much as I hate to say that. In fact, I loathe it. If I could help it-” He caught sight of himself in the window again, his hair messed up and his makeup slightly smudged. If he did not know better, he’d think he was looking at a criminal.

“Anyway. What do you know about Sportaflippy’s brother?” He interrupted himself. Pixel frowned, turning back to his computer.

“Well, not much, really. I didn’t get to put a tracking device on him yet, so it’s hard to say…” Pixel glossed over Robbie’s indignant question whether he’d been putting those on everyone. “I know he’s kind of strange, but a lot of adults are. He also wears suits, but so does Mayor Meanswell, so…”

“He’s not who you think he is. And he needs to leave.” Robbie interjected, stepped up to the computer. “He’s dangerous, he will hurt you.” He again tried to flatten his hair against his head, fruitlessly. “And I have no idea how to stop him.”

“Well, uhm, that sounds-”

“I’m serious.” Robbie cut him off again. “His name is not Anton, and he’s not human.” Robbie caught himself before potentially giving away Sportacus’ race; after all, there had to be reason he’d never told anyone.

“The point is, he needs to get out of town. Sportakook won‘t help, he’s his brother.”

Pixel gave Robbie a confused look. “...if he’s not human, what is he?” He pushed his glasses on his nose, looking at his computer. “He looks pretty human to me, you know.”

“He cut his ears.” Robbie felt his own ones heat up at the mere thought. “His kind, they have pointy ears. Too easy to tell what they are, usually, so they keep them covered.” Just talking about him made his stomach feel uncomfortably hollow, as though he hadn’t eaten anything all day.

Pixel stared at Robbie’s face, as though he expected his ears to suddenly grow longer. “...alright, so, he’s not human…” He said, very slowly. “Is he a hero, like Sportacus?”

“You could say so.” Robbie said, carefully. He didn’t know how to explaim just what happened, and decided to leave out the part where he used to get hurt trying to intervene with the hero. Pixel didn’t need to know that. No one did.

“He was Number Nine, actually. Came here way before you all did. He wasn’t … a very good hero, all things considered.” Robbie visibly shuddered at the thought of him. “I’m glad he left, but…”

“What can we do?”

“I don’t know!” Robbie threw his hands into the air. “I was hoping you would, actually.”

Pixel moved the mouse, opening some files on the desktop. “Well, I have… no idea what to make of this. Whoever and whatever he is, he’s been shutting down my cameras whenever he can, so I don’t even have footage.” A window opened, and he pointed at it. “The last I have of him is when he came here, but then everything goes black.”

Robbie frowned. This … was bad, he had to admit. He’d hoped that, somehow, Pixel would have been able to come up with a solution when he, Robbie, couldn’t - wasn’t he supposed to be the smart one? Robbie gave an irritated huff at the situation.

“There has to be some way to get him to leave town, you know. You can’t tell me there’s - we’re going to have to deal with him for the rest of our life!”

“Well.. there is…” Pixel moved the mouse again, pulling up something else with a flick of the mouse. “There’s a rule in the uhm, the Lazytown Rule Book Number Four. I think you know it already, but, uh.” The window showed what looked to be a scanned page out of a book. “I asked Mayor Meanswell to let me scan those!” He explained excitedly. “Either way, though, it says here that ‘there can only be one Superhero in Lazytown’! That’s it!”

Robbie frowned. He did not want to admit that Sportaflop was the lesser of two evils, but as it were, he’d prefer him over his brother any day of the week. He rubbed his temples.

“As long as he doesn’t do superhero things, though…. I doubt we can make him leave.” Robbie started pacing up and down, glancing at the screen every now and then. “He’s not - I don’t think he even has a crystal anymore.”

Pixel stepped to the window, looking outside. “We need to figure out if he has a crystal, and then we need to make sure Sportacus doesn’t come to the rescue before he does.”

“Well, I don’t think that’ll be hard.” It wouldn’t have been the first time that Robbie managed to upstage Sportacus and keep him from saving someone.

Pixel nodded in agreement. “Yeah, that’s the easy part.” He drummed his fingers on his desk when suddenly, he became aware of just how tired he was. When Robbie had come in, he’d been about to go to bed, but of course he’d kept him up. 

“Listen, I’ll tell the others what we found out. What you told me.” Pixel quickly corrected himself. “We need to get to the bottom of this, and him out of town. But now…” He glanced at the digital watch on his nightstand. “I have to sleep, or I’ll fall asleep in the middle of things tomorrow.”

Robbie did not want to leave, not by a long shot, but found himself unable to argue. With a huff, he headed to the window, muttering something about kids being useless on the way. Pixel quirked a brow, but decided he was too tired to deal with it right now.

“I’ll let you know if I find something else out, Robbie.” He told the man, and Robbie climbed on the sill, putting a foot on the topmost rung of the ladder.

“Yeah, whatever.” He scowled, starting to climb. “I’ll see you whenever, poodle.”

It was dark and quiet out, and Robbie could feel a shudder run down his spine when he carried the ladder back to the shed. He didn’t like the idea of being alone like this, with Anton somewhere out there. His brow knit as he put the ladder back in place. Did Sportacus know? Was this why he’d been around so little?

Robbie dusted his hands off, about to turn around when he heard a noise - a soft beeping, familiar yet different. He ducked behind the nearest wall, peering over it to try and see what was going on..

It was the cat. For whatever reason, it had gotten stuck in the tree, as usual, but it wasn’t Sportacus who came to its aid this time. Robbie barely bit back a surprised gasp when steel grey eyes met his for a split moment.

The beeping stopped when Anton set the cat on the ground, his scowl only partially masked by the darkness. Robbie did not know why he even considered saving the kitten, or why he’d kept the crystal at all, but he did know Anton had seen him all the same,

He gulped, ducking back behind the wall quickly. His heart was racing; he could feel it thrumming when he placed a hand against his chest. Anton had seen him - would he know why he had been outside this late? Would he tell Sportacus?

Before his frazzled thoughts could sort themselves out, he heard steps heading towards the wall. He flattened himself against the brick, breathing heavily.

“Don’t do anything stupid.”

Robbie was frozen in fear, only moving when he heard the steps move away again. He didn’t stay to look behind him, heading towards the billboard and the safety of his lair as quickly as he could. It was even darker out here, with the billboard throwing the biggest of them all. All in all, it could have hardly looked less welcome.

Robbie’s heart hammered in his chest, half expecting Anton to be waiting for him in the darkness, but there was nothing at all. The billboard and the surrounding area was empty, almost eerily so.

“This is ridiculous.” He scolded himself, shaking his head as he slipped behind the billboard. “He’s not following you, you’d know. Don’t be stupid, Robbie.”

Overhead, the airship drifted over Lazytown, a black spot on the full silver moon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Someone please teach me how to write children. I do not understand them.  
> I looked it up, though - the rules pertaining to heroes are actually mentioned in S03E01, if anyone is curious, so that's canon.
> 
> Also, I should mention that I'm mostly writing this as I think of things. This wasn't supposed to be a THING that's long and has plot. Help. Anyone.


	5. We Need To Talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Robbie wants cake, and Sportacus feels bad.

Sportacus woke up, facing the ceiling. For a moment, he didn’t remember much - or anything at all, really- then his ship’s AI spoke up, jarring him out of this state quite suddenly.

“Good morning, Sportacus. Your guest left approximately an hour and seventeen minutes ago.” The ship said, in its usual semi-cheerful voice. “He asked me not to divulge any further information.”

Sportacus pushed off the covers, jumping out of bed decidedly less enthusiastically than usually. He sighed, folding the covers back up and watching the bed slip back into the wall. Usually, he would have gone to grab some fruit next, but he did not feel particúlarly hungry, going for his backpack instead.

“Sportacus, you forgot breakfast.” The ship chided. Sportacus winced.

“I know. Door?” He asked, as though he was afraid the ship would refuse him, but the door opened at his call and he stepped outside. Lazytown seemed quiet, since it was pretty early in the morning - at least he hoped so. His spyglass showed him nothing out of the ordinary, and his crystal didn’t go off in warning either, so he sat down at the edge of the platform, gazing off into the distance.

Anton was a problem, that much was obvious. He didn’t have an idea where the man usually spent the day - he hadn’t been home when Sportacus went to bed, but the ship had claimed he left before Sportacus even woke, so that implied he’d come back at some point. Nothing in the ship had been moved, either, which didn’t do a thing to make him any more calm. He knit his brow.

Actually confronting him was out of the question as well- he hardly responded well to criticism, to put it mildly, not to mention he’d have to first find him anyway. A cursory glance around showed him Ziggy and Trixie, apparently on the way to the sports field, but nothing else. Not even the kitten was stuck on its usual tree.

“Well… looks like no one needs me right now!” Sportacus desperately tried to sound more cheerful than he felt, and failed miserably. “I’ll just… I’ll go inside.” The door shut behind him as he stepped back into the ship.

“Eat breakfast.” The ship reminded him, shooting out an apple at him. He caught the fruit, taking a bite and chewing slowly. At least he felt less lethargic now, but the main issue wasn’t solved by far. All he could do now was hope Anton returned to the ship soon, and then try to talk to him.

\---

Trixie grabbed the hat on Robbie’s hat and adjusted it, tongue between her teeth. The man swatted at her, grumbling. “...leave me alone!” He complained, drawing further against the wooden wall behind him.

The small group was nestled up in the treehouse, somewhat uncomfortably with the addition of Robbie to the mix. Stephanie and the others had met up there yet again, this time joined by the villain. They had figured they’d be safest here, after all, even if Robbie’s legs got in the way somewhat.

“... so what did Robbie tell you?” Stephanie asked. “Let’s get everything sorted out before we do anything.”

Pixel held out a printout of the page he’d shown Robbie the night before. “Well, it says here that… there’s a rule. About heroes.”

“Gimme.” Trixie moved, snatching the paper out of Pixel’s hands to read it aloud for everyone to hear. “‘There can only be one Superhero in Lazytown.” She said, frowning. “..wait, does that mean Anton’s a hero?”

“I saw his crystal.” Robbie had drawn his knees up against his chest to allow Ziggy to crawl past him towards the bag of snacks they’d brought. He fished a lollipop out of the bag, giving it a lick. “He still has it, and it still works. He saved the cat out of the tree.”

“That… doesn’t sound bad.” Trixie piped up. “Sportacus does that, like, all the time!”

Robbie scoffed- “I - yes?” That made sense, but Anton didn’t look like the kind of person to actually be nice for any reason - if he were, Sportacus wouldn’t act the way he did around him. “But…”

If the cat had stayed stuck, and Sportacus crystal had gone off-

“Maybe.” Robbie proposed, trying to keep Ziggy’s sticky hands off his vest, “Sportacus would have come and seen that Anton has a crystal, too?” He gently picked Ziggy up and set him on the floor before he or his sweets could end up in his hair. “Maybe he doesn’t want that.”

“But we all know!” Stephanie exclaimed. “That’s so silly…”

“Yeah, but maybe he doesn’t know that we know.” Trixie tapped her own nose. “That’d make sense…”

Stingy interrupted briefly, claiming the sucker Ziggy was licking on was, in fact, his, and Robbie had to pull another from the bag. He grumbled, adjusting his hat with a sour expression on his face.

“So what does he get out of this?” Pixel wondered aloud, reading the paper again. “If we all know… I mean…” He looked at Stephanie, who nodded.

“I know!”

“I know.” Stingy said, haughtily.

Ziggy nodded with his mouth full of candy, and Trixie elbowed him gently. “Yeah, everyone here knows, right, Robbie?”

The man gave a shrug. “...well, it’s not like I can tell him to get lost. You know how well that works with Sportacus…” He grit his teeth briefly, thinking of the many times he had failed to get the elf to leave - it had to be at least a hundred fruitless attempts by now. “Besides, elves are... “ He nervously unpacked a caramel, popping it into his mouth and sucking on it. “You can’t just.. Tell them to leave. If it was that easy… no.”

Robbie tried to sit up as straight as possible, given the limited space in the treehouse. All of the kids were practically glued to his lips, and it was obvious he wouldn’t have it any other way. “Elves can only be forced to leave if you trick them! A contract will do, just a handshake or something… but they will really have to leave if they agree.”

Ziggy had moved from the sucker to his own sleeve, completely enthralled by Robbie’s story. Stephanie gently pulled his sleeve out of his mouth as she listened on.

“So the best way to beat him is making him an offer he can’t refuse, and then beating him at his own games.” Robie concluded, proud of how easily he’d been able to draw in all of the kids with his words. “The only problem is… I doubt he’d agree to some kind of… Sport…. Sports…”

The villain gagged and retched at the word, and Stephanie decided to take over. “Well, then… we’ll have to appeal to his ego instead!” Her eyes sparkled. “I doubt he’d be able to say no if we pretended like we were impressed… the problem is just, how do we get him to agree to our plan without giving anything away?”

“Ahem!” Robbie piped up. “Leave that to me. I am the master of disguise, after all!”

Everyone in the treehouse was in agreement about that, even Stingy, even if he mumbled something about his plan being better. Trixie laughed and hit him upside the head.

“Don’t be dumb, Agent Mine!” she teased lightheartedly. Stingy found her joke less funny. And scooted away from her slowly. Robbie could imagine why.

He had to admit, despite how grubby their hands were, and how much he hated the kids, he was starting to get awfully fond of them all of a sudden. His pale cheeks blushed a bright pink, embarrassed that he’d go soft around these brats.

Disgusting.

“Anyway… I say we all go back home and… plan?” He said, nervously fidgeting. Being this close to a band of kids he liked to claim he hated was making him very, very nervous. “I need to come up with a disguise, and you should keep an eye on him in case he does anything, well…” Robbie waved a hand.”Strange? Weird? I don’t know, you’re the one who know him. Not him.”

Stephanie grinned, waving the others closer. “Alright, everyone! Pixel, try and see if you can get your cameras up and running! Ziggy, can you distract him? And Trixie…”

“Yeah?”

“You got your slingshot?”

“Hell yeah!” The girl grinned, already thrilled at the idea of using Anton as target practice. “If he does anything weird, I’ll keep him busy so Pixel can keep track of him, right?”

Robbie excused himself, slipping down the hole in the floor and taking the ladder down. Having made a plan, he felt a lot safer, even if Anton still held the trump card of violence over his head. As long as the kids were safe, though, Robbie would grin and bear it - they didn’t need to know.

Robbie wished he could forget himself. He idly kicked a pebble along the street, slouching about as he usually did. He didn’t actually know what would impress Anton - who was important enough to make the man listen? He barely listened to his own brother, after all!

Speaking of the blue annoyance, he hadn’t seen him in at least a day now. That wasn’t too unusual - Robbie often spent so much time underground he hardly saw anyone for sometimes weeks at a time. This was different, though. He briefly looked up at the sky, where he could see the airship hovering just above a thin layer of clouds.

“Oh, come on. He’s okay. Do you really think he’d ...get hurt…” Robbie trailed off, uncomfortably rubbing his upper arm. He should know best what Anton could do if he was pushed too far, and he couldn’t see Sportacus really knowing when to stop pushing. Robbie grit his teeth.

He would not go on another life-threatening adventure, thank you very much. One had been plenty, and if he ran into Anton in the ship, he wouldn’t be able to avoid him like he had just the night before.

This was a stupid idea. Robbie passed the unmanned ice cream stand, pausing briefly as he tried to decide if a 20-scoop ice cream would make him feel any better. Well, fuller probably, but .. not really any better.

“Sportakook is fine.” He assured himself again, sneaking out of town. It was quite a ways to his lair still, and the entire time his thoughts kept wandering to the ship above. He was supposed to pick out a disguise, not think about that-

A bird flying away in the distance with a cry startled him. He hadn’t been aware he’d been staring up at the clouds like some idiot for maybe ten minutes now, and his neck was starting to feel sore. He rubbed it, trying to calm his thoughts. Just because Anton was prone to violence, and just because he hadn’t seen Sportacus in a few days didn’t mean anything had happened.

Besides, he was pretty sure he had a cake in the oven, anyway. He’d better get that before it turned black. Maybe a slice (with extra frosting and a huge helping of whipped cream) would calm him down enough to stop thinking in circles.

Yes. Cake sounded good now.

\--

Sportacus turned around, with his back against the billboard, and sobbed.

He’d forgotten to pick up the suit earlier, and to say that Anton was mad would be an understatement. He had, quite literally, given him hell until he agreed to go fetch the suit from Robbie’s lair on the spot. When he’d arrived at the billboard and found that his knocks fell on deaf ears, he froze.

Either Robbie wasn’t home, or he was deliberately ignoring him. Either option sent a chill down his spine that settled uncomfortably in his stomach, making him sick. He wanted to believe Robbie was just taking a walk outside, but … when did he really ever leave the lair? No, Robbie had to be ignoring him, for whatever reason, and he’d have to return to Anton empty-handed.

The thought twisted his stomach. Sportacus brushed a sweat-slicked curl of blonde hair out of his face slowly, drawing his knees up to his chest. This was ridiculous, really, if he thought about it. His own brother should not be able to threaten him like that. Still…

He could feel his crystal thrumming faintly on his chest. Someone was in trouble. Sportacus wished it would stop, just this once - he wasn’t sure he’d be able to get up, much less figure out what the crystal was beeping for right now. Whatever it was, it would have to wait.

“Sportakook?”

Sportacus looked up, up, along a pair of striped pant legs. Oh. He wiped his face, not having realised he had actually started crying. “Robbie…” He sounded a lot sadder than he wanted to, trying to force his face into a smile. It didn’t look genuine. “I thought you were ignoring me.”

“No. Why are you - I…” Robbie dropped to his knees, running a hand over Sportacus’ head, pushing back his hat. “Are you crying.”

“I’m okay. I’m fine.” Sportacus muttered, trying to figure out if he’d be able to get up at this point. Robbie, meanwhile, kept urging him, if gently, and as much as he appreciated him being there, it made his heart race. He could feel it throbbing against his ribs at this point, almost painfully so.

“I’m just - I’ll be fine.” He muttered softly, swatting the villain’s hand away when it was offered to him. “Just give me a minute or so.” He sniffled, pushing himself off the billboard slowly, standing shakily still.

“Let’s go inside.” Robbie pulled him by the arm, and before he could argue, he’d been half shoved, half dragged to the entrance pipe. He looked downwards, into the darkness, and the sickness in his stomach jolted sharply.

“Robbie, please, just-”

Robbie wasn’t hearing the end of it. “You’re going inside. Now.” He said, unusually stern and serene. “Please. Come on, don’t make me drag you-!”

Sportacus sighed, swinging one leg over the side of the pipe. “Fine.” Was all he said, even though his voice betraying his lack of energy, as though e’d accidentally eaten another one of Robbie’s sugar apples. “I’ll go inside.”

He brought the other leg forward, and then slipped in, immediately dropping down. Above him, he could hear the lid slamming shut, undoubtedly after Robbie had climbed in himself, and then there was darkness until-

He popped out of the end of the pipe, landing squarely in the villain’s comfortable orange chair. Everything was spinning, and he has to take a moment to even realise where he was, and that Robbie was about to come out of the pipe as well. When he did, Sportacus caught him in his arms, with Robbie’s legs slung awkwardly over his shoulder.

“... I don’t suppose you want cake?” Robbie offered, trying to untangle himself. “Either way, we need to talk. Now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What a cliffhanger, am I right.


	6. Old Wounds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Sportacus spills his feelings, and learns something very important about Robbie.

A long, heavy silence filled Robbie Rotten’s lair.

He’d been listening to Sportacus for the better part of an hour now - when the hero had found himself in the big, comfortable orange chair, with a glass of water (to Robbie’s disgust) in hand, words came spilling from him almost too quickly. It was a mess of English and Elvish and something else Robbie didn’t know at all, all jumbled together into a heap that Robbie had to pry through.

Anton was Sportacus’ brother, that was the first thing he pieced together. He was, technically, older by a few minutes, a fact he liked to bring up, apparently. Robbie’s upper lip curled. Anton had also, apparently, left the elven village before Sportacus became a hero himself, many years before, even. Sportacus had almost downed the whole glass at that point.

Now, Robbie knew Anton had been Number Nine before Sportacus took his place as Ten, of course, but he didn’t know the details. Not that he cared particularly about why Anton had been to Lazytown to begin with, but it was certainly interesting to know.

That was all Sportacus had said. Robbie frowned. The silence was starting to feel uncomfortable, and he spoke up.

“...is there anything else?”

“Nothing else.” Sportacus said, finishing his glass and setting it aside. Robbie wasn’t sure if he should take and refill it or just let him cling to it, as it looked like he needed that now. He bit his lip, not really knowing how to break the silence.

Really, he was almost intimately familiar with Anton himself, to the point where he could fill in the gaps that Sportacus’ story had left. So Anton must have left for Lazytown, as its hero and protector, where he first met Robbie the day he arrived.

Robbie shuddered. “I know him.” He said, slowly, unable to find the right words right away. “He introduced himself as Number Nine.” So far, so good. His back was starting to itch uncomfortably. Robbie tried to ignore it. “He… did not like me.”

Sportacus’ question came slowly and hesitantly. “.... he didn’t hurt you too, did he?”

Robbie couldn’t help the bout of bitter laughter spilling from him. He was incredulous, unable to help himself from positively snorting - was Sportacus joking? Did he honestly not think Anton would hurt Robbie the second he had the opportunity to? He pulled a face.

“Of course.” He tried not to sound bitter, he really, really did. But it still tinged his voice when he spoke next. “He did the worst thing he could have possibly done to me.” He said, his mouth a thin line in his pale face. “You - you don’t know, but I-”

He paused. Could he tell Sportacus? He felt very naked, very vulnerable right then, even though Sportacus was below him, physically at least. He drew in a sharp breath. Now or never.

“I’m just as human as you are. I’m a fae.”

Sportacus did not seem as surprised as Robbie thought he’d be. His nose wrinkled, and he went on. “He pulled out my wings. Said I did not deserve them.” The feeling on his back had reached its burning peak, and he wondered if Sportacus could see his distress. To his surprise, Sportacus sat up a little straighter.

“Can I see…?” He said, very quietly, holding out a hand. Robbie tensed.

Undressing in front of the annoying blue elf wasn’t something he was comfortable with to begin with, much less while also showing scars that still burned, after all these years. He took a step back. Sportacus fell back against the chair, obviously disappointed.

“I understand if you’d rather-”

Robbie shushed him with a gesture, undoing the buttons on his vest deftly. It was discarded, and he unclipped the cuffs on his wrists. The shirt proved a little more difficult - he hadn’t actually manually undressed in quite a while. His fingers slipped a couple times, and when it finally came off, it messed up his hair to boot. Robbie scoffed softly.

“Here.” He turned around.

The scars were long and thin and pink as though the injury was recent. All in all, they covered skin from the bottom of Robbie’s angular shoulder blades almost down half the length of his back. The skin itself was rough, as though it’d never had a chance to heal properly. When Sportacus placed a gentle hand against the lines, Robbie winced.

“Careful, Sportakook.” He warned. Sportacus drew his hand back and Robbie relaxed visibly. “Better.”

He moved his arms, crossing them over his head so his shoulderblades moved. Ever since his wings had been torn off - literally, at that - Robbie had been struggling with backaches. To make things worse, frequently, he’d jolt out of a nap where he’d relieve the scene. He’d watch the sparkling wings drift to the ground again only to be stepped on by a pair of polished black shoes. If he had been having issues sleeping before, now his sleep was all but fitful, leaving him tired almost all the time.

“Did you really think I was human?” He said incredulously, biting back a noise of pain. The idea that he had Sportacus fooled into thinking he was human at all only served to amuse him a little. “I’ve been magic all along. My disguises are all glamours, you know.”

The scars were slowly numbing again, the phantom pain subsiding. Robbie scrabbled to pick up his shirt again. “He took my wings from me. I’m surprised he didn’t kill me outright, but I guess he just has a particularly sadistic streak to him.”

The shirt was pulled over his head. Robbie was glad he no longer had to show his back to Sportacus. “I hope that doesn’t run in the family.”

Sportacus bit his lip. Robbie could see him struggling with himself, and he sighed, rubbing his eyes. Suddenly, he was very, very tired and only wanted to try and nap. “Not that I think it does…” He quickly added, yawning.

“I understand.” Sportacus got up, sighing. He looked at his crystal, tapping the little number the on it with knit brows. “So… you want him gone because he hurt you- And-”

“And you.” Robbie interjected before Spoortacus could finish. “My scars are old. I’ll be fine. I’ve been fine all this time! But you…” He took a step closer to Sportacus. “You shouldn’t have to hurt. You’re so good, and I’m…”

Nothing like you, he wanted to say. Not as important as you. He was fine with being hurt if it meant Sportacus would be happy. Robbie didn’t matter in the long run. He’d not be missed.

“I’m going to make sure he leaves.” Robbie said instead. “Me and the brats- the kids - we have a plan. We need your help, but…”

Robbie placed a hand on Sportacus’ back, urging him forward. “You still have a suit to pick up, I believe.”

He’d put the suit away on the table, and went to fetch it for Sportacus, who was seemingly struggling putting thing together at this point. “You’re quiet.” Robbie commented idly, making sure the suit was clean and folded up neatly.

“I was wondering if you think I’m like him.” Sportacus replied quietly. Robbie quirked a brow.

“There’s a reason I hate elves. But.” He thrust the bundle of fabric at Sportacus with a huff. “I like you the most out of any elf I’ve met so far. Are you happy?”

At least Sportacus hadn’t tried to murder him yet, Robbie bitterly thought. Anton knew full well the importance of his wings to Robbie, and still he’d plucked them, like a child may do to a fly. A particularly nasty child at that.

Sportacus headed for the pipe, still uncharacteristically quiet. Before leaving, he turned to face Robbie.

“Thank you.”

Robbie waved it off. “Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just - don’t tell the children, alright? They don’t need to know.”

Neither did Sportacus, but this was something he’d think about after he’d had a cake and something sweet to drink. He’d realised that Sportacus’ unplanned visit had thrown him off, and despite arriving at his lair only shortly after maybe three in the afternoon, it was now almost evening.

Great. Even more time wasted on the blue idiot. At least now he knew that the elf was safe, and that Anton hadn’t tried to murder him yet. Robbie pulled a face; his back was starting to hurt just from thinking about it. Did Anton even remember? He did not seem like the kind of person that’d remember just what exactly he’d done to everyone. He did seem surprised to find Robbie still living in Lazytown, anyway, as though he’d expected him to move.

Ha. Likely story. Robbie headed for his kitchen, rifling through the cupboards. He was pretty sure he still had some cake mix somewhere… if not, he’d just … make some. He was still magic, after all, and dire times asked for dire measures. Or whatever.

How someone was sweet and gentle as Sportacus was related to someone like Anton eluded him. He’d never made the connection between the two, even after Sportacus came to town, bearing striking resemblance to his brother. To be fair, it had been years since he’d last seen Anton at that point, too, so it wasn’t too surprising.

Robbie cursed when he didn’t find any cake mix at all, turning his back on the kitchen. Fine, he’d just… make one for himself, then. He was a little rusty in making things out of thin air, of course, since most of his magic was in his glamours, but it’d better than nothing.

Robbie headed over to the cake machine, looking into the little window. His magic, though impressive, had always needed a little boost to work at its best. His disguise machine and the cake maker were only two examples of that.

He pulled a lever, tapping his fingers against the side of the machine impatiently. His magic was all but instantaneous, unfortunately, even with a mechanical boost to help, so he had to wait until the machine spat up his cake.

That only gave him more time to think and left him anxiously drumming his fingers. Was it even a good idea to tell Sportacus what had been a secret he’d adamantly refused to share until now? Back when it happened, he’d immediately withdrawn and nursed himself back to health in his lair. He was pretty sure not even the mayor and his extremely annoying secretary knew he wasn’t human. But then again-

The machine dinged, and Robie opened it to pull out a slice of his favourite cake. Prodding it with a spoon, he sighed.

“Whatever.” He muttered softly, putting the first spoonful into his mouth. He’d worry about this once he’d finished this slice of cake, and then maybe a second or a third one. What was the point in rushing things, anyway? Wasn’t he supposed to be the laziest villain on the planet, anyway?

“Sportakook is going to be fine.” He told no one in particular, and headed back to enjoy his cake in the comfort of his armchair. He deserved this after everything that’d happened today, he told himself. Still, Robbie couldn’t help feeling just a little queasy even after finishing his cake.

He leaned back, staring at the ceiling until he was sure he could see a face up in the dark. When would he stop sneaking out to help that annoying, sporty disaster…?

Probably not tonight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise! Anton is even more of a jerk than you thought he was!


	7. Someone's In Trouble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Robbie becomes a liability, and someone goes missing.

Despite the commotion in the past days, Lazytown went back to its usual calm state faster than expected. Even Robbie, who kept being apprehensive in case he ran across Anton in the streets, soon calmed down enough to go back to his old self. Things had quieted down and his lazy nature made it hard for him to actually stay as tense for too long to begin with. Soon enough, he was more concerned with how loud the kids were being when playing outside more than he was with what Anton was doing.

 

In fact, he came across Ziggy a couple days after their meeting and actually snapped at him when he walked into the boy, back to his normal disdain for the kids and all their loud antics. He didn’t mean to, it was more of a reflex than anything else, really.

 

Ziggy pulled a face, and Robbie only noticed the smear of blood on the boys’ face the second time he looked at him. His stomach lurched; he immediately felt bad for being quite so mean to the boy after everything else that was happening.

 

“What happened?”” He asked softly, dropping to his knees to talk to Ziggy face-to-face. Ziggy felt the bruise on his lip with his free hand, as though he was surprised to see the blood there himself.

 

“Uh…” He said, avoiding actually looking at Robbie and instead focusing on his undone left shoelace. Robbie asked again, .and he started treading on the spot nervously. “Well,  _ uh… _ ”

 

Robbie sighed through his teeth. He didn’t want to push Ziggy - he didn’t do well with kids at the best of times to begin with -but he also didn’t want to wait until Ziggy finally got to the point. He pinched the bridge of his nose. “You’re  _ bleeding _ .” He pointed out instead.

 

“I know.” Ziggy whined. Robbie was starting to lose what little patience he had with the kid. He did not need to bother with him - he didn’t even like him, anyway! Whatever had happened was probably something silly anyway.

 

“Fine, don’t tell me.” 

 

Before he could move on though, Ziggy tugged on his pant leg. He paused. “... _ what _ .”

 

Ziggy wiped his lips again, smearing blood over his face. “Anton…” He finally said, fumbling with the tie of his cape around his neck. He kept clinging to Robbie’s leg all the while though, refusing to let go. Robbie didn’t honestly know what to say or do - what did people  _ do  _ with upset kids?

 

“Wait.” Eventually, he got an idea, pulling a small piece of candy out of his vest pocket, holding it out to a sniffling Ziggy, who took it gingerly. Robbie sighed, his brow knitting. So Anton hurt Ziggy - for what reason? What did he get out off hurting a helpless child…?

 

If before he was bothered by Anton, now Robbie only felt furious thinking of the elf. It was nothing like the feelings he held for Sportacus - while yes, he wanted him to leave forever, he didn’t want him to get hurt. Anton on the other hand…

 

Robbie only noticed that Ziggy had disappeared, sucker and candy in hand, when he didn’t respond to him asking what exactly had happened. Robbie was quite dumbfounded, if anything, taking a moment to realise where Ziggy had disappeared off to.

 

“Why, this…” He was left gritting his teeth, almost literally fuming at the mouth. Who did Anton think he was, to return to Lazytown after all he’d done, and then hurting the kids on top of it? He hadn’t been here in years, yet seemed to be keen on starting off just as he had left. Robbie’s stomach lurched almost painfully.

 

Before he could sink any deeper into his thoughts, he found another one of the kids sitting on a bench, apparently lost in one of the games the kids liked playing. Well, as long as they weren’t outside… Which reminded him-

 

“What are  _ you  _ doing here?” Robbie said, again a little meaner than he’d intended to. The kid looked up - it was the tech wiz of the group. Robbie’s upper lip curled. “Shouldn’t you be inside?”

 

“Hey Robbie!” Pixel - was that his name? - waved amicably despite Robbie’s tone of voice, moving over to make room for Robbie, which he tried to pretend didn't happen as he sat down. “I was going to, but…. My computer broke.” Pixel explained.

 

Robbie raised a brow. This kid’s things didn’t usually break… the one time that he’d managed to melt his hard drive excepted, of course. For God’s sake, he could build things even Robbie wasn’t sure how to pull off! A broken computer wouldn’t stop him from being inside as far as Robbie was concerned. He pressed on.

 

“Just like that?” He remarked dryly. “Strange.” Something told him Anton had his hands in that matter as well, somehow, even if he wasn’t sure how exactly. All he knew was that Anton probably didn’t usually climb into windows to mess with things.

 

Unlike someone he knew. Robbie could feel his back hurting again, but pushed it aside.

 

Pixel shrugged. “My drive was pretty much fried… looks like someone either uh,  _ hacked  _ it, or used other means to disable it. I can’t get to anything on there unless I figure out a way to undo the damage. Until then…” He held the thing he’d been playing with up for Robbe to see. “I do still have Revenge of the Super Lizards 5000!”

 

Robbie inspected the small device, his thoughts reeling. He had a  good idea that what had happened to Pixel’s computer wasn’t a coincidence. “The uh, your copy of that book, was that on that drive too…?” He carefully asked, prompting Pixel to shrug.

 

“Well, yeah! Everything was on there, except for the system data. Which means I still have a backup of everything to do with the actual computer, but setting it up will take a bit.”

 

Robbie leaned back, staring off into the distance. Did Anton know?  _ How much  _ did he know, if anything? How far would he go? Robbie thought of Ziggy’s bleeding lip - if not even kids were sacred, he didn’t want to think about the extend of Anton’s cruelty.

 

“Robbie?”

 

Robbie blinked, not realising Pixel must have been talking to him for a while. He tried to brush it off with a sneer. “...what?”

 

“You’ve been uh, staring into thin air for like ten minutes now.” Pixel said, sounding genuinely concerned in a way that made Robbie feel slightly sick. He shrugged it off, not wanting Pixel to think he had to worry about him.

 

“Whatever. Nothing you need to care about, you  _ annoying- _ ” Robbie huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. Why did kids have to be so … like that? Annoying and nosy, putting their sticky fingers in places they did not belong. Gross. He was starting to regret trying to bond with the kids to begin with. “Don’t you have something better to do?”

 

“Not really.” Pixel shrugged, going back to his game with a soft sigh. “My computer  _ is  _ broken, so.” 

 

Robbie got up, dusting himself off, and cracked his back audibly. “Great! Then I will get going, since you … and your game…” He waved a hand. Frankly, he wasn’t entirely sure what he was getting at, either, but he did know he wanted to leave before the situation got even more awkward somehow. Luckily for him, Pixel seemed to be absolutely enthralled with his game and did not even seem to notice Robbie had left, which was thankful for.

 

Even if it did leave him on his own to ponder what Pixel had told him. He definitely did not put it past Anton to sneak into his house and do something to the kid’s computer, but then again… that seemed so  _ childish _ . Robbie was the one that snuck around and broke into houses. Anton was a little less subtle than that, and a lot more refined on top of that.

 

Robbie leaned against the nearest wall, gazing off to where he could see Pixel’s house in the distance. He wondered if Anton knew he’d visited the boy, and how much they had talked about that night. Was he putting them at risk?

 

He dragged his shoes over the ground, kicking a pebble around. It had always been about him - Anton had only left after he’d been forced to when Robbie lost his wings. The people in town were never involved - not even Sportacus,  _ who hadn’t even known about the incident _ . It was unfair to drag everyone else into this when they did nothing wrong.

 

Somewhere far off, a bird cried. Robbie bit his lip. I he wasn’t there, no one would be in trouble. He wouldn’t need to worry about Ziggy’ busted lip, or Pixel’s fried computer, or whatever Annton was planning to do the loud girl and her pink friend. 

 

Robbie drew in a breath through his nose. Maybe… he should  _ really  _ leave. Anton wouldn’t stick around to bother everyone if he wasn’t there anymore.

 

The bird cried again. Robbie was jerked out of his thoughts briefly, looking up in time to see the Mayor walk past. Meanswell waved at Robbie, who shrugged in response.

 

“Oh, hello Mister Rotten! Are you having a good day?” He asked, pausing his leisurely walk. Robbie did not respond immediately, smoothing out his vest nervously instead.

 

“... _ yes _ .” He eventually said, not looking the mayor in the eyes. His thoughts were still racing, and he had a hard time even focusing on what was right in front of him, much less the platitudes Mayor Meanswell was probably looking for. He scoffed, but the mayor didn’t seem to notice.

 

“Lovely weather today, isn’t it?”

 

Robbie shrugged. It wasn’t raining, at least. Probably good weather, then. “Hm.”

 

“I was going to ask the kids if they wanted to uh, go on a hike, or something!” Meanswell seemed to be confused about what exactly he was trying to talk about, pausing to read off a small piece of crumpled-up paper he found in his pocket. “Do you think Sportacus would want to join?”

 

“Probably.” Not that he figured Sportacus would ever not want to join anything that even slightly resembled sport to begin with. Robbie was starting to feel uneasy. “Why don’t you ask  _ him _ ?”

 

“Well, I was going to!” Meanswell tucked the paper back into his pocket. “But I haven’t been able to find him all day! In fact, I got stuck in the tree earlier and uh…” He shrugged. “No sign of him! Nothing at all.”

 

That sent a shiver down his spine. If the blue elf didn’t even show up when it came to saving the mayor, that couldn’t mean anything good at all. The sickness in the pit of his stomach got worse with a startling abruptness.

 

“So if you do see him, could you tell him I’m uh, looking for him?”

 

Robbie shook his head. Meanswell had apparently been talking to him as well. “Oh, uh, yes?” He quickly said, glad to see the man trudge off the way he’d come afterwards. Robbie leaned against the wall, trying to focus his thoughts on something else but his upset stomach.

 

This  _ couldn’t  _ be good.

 

\---

 

“Beep beep.” Anton tossed the crystal in his hands, watching it sail through the air as he did, before catching it again. “Someone's in trouble. Too bad you don't know, brother.”

 

He pocketed the small orb, giving his watch an irritated glance. It was beeping as well, softer than the crystal but still audible, and he hated it. Despite that, he had never been able to part with it, a sentimental facet of his personality he liked to pretend did not exist.

 

_ Not even after all these years _ . He sneered, waiting for the beeps to quiet down before stepping out of the shadow of the tree, heading for the playground.

  
His brother had always been far too gullible, he thought, the stolen crystal burning a hole in his pocket. Anton had always known it'd end up getting in his way. Sportacus should have seen it coming, Anton reasoned, one hand pressed against his pocket.

**Author's Note:**

> Sportapol sibling AU belongs to http://life-is-full-of-games.tumblr.com/, I am just running with it because I watched this godamn Spy movie and now I have fallen. And I can't get up.
> 
> I hope to actually go somewhere with this. Please be gentle.
> 
> (I should also note this has nothing to do with the Sportapol ship)


End file.
